Tully's Faith (Grooms with Honor Book 11) Read online

  Tully’s Faith

  Grooms with Honor Series, Book 11

  Copyright © 2018 by Linda K. Hubalek

  Published by Butterfield Books Inc.

  Printed Book ISBN—978-1723076138

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951717

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Except for the history of Kansas mentioned in the book, the names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A sweet western romance set in 1892.

  No one in Clear Creek, Kansas, thought Tully Reagan, the youngest son of the preacher who was always in trouble, would follow in his father’s footsteps. Now finished with his seminary training, Tully is ready to start his career. But rather than becoming a pastor for a church as his family expects, Tully signed on to be a newspaper's travel writer to explore and write about the new national parks in the western states.

  Violet Tucker grew up on the Cross C Ranch near Clear Creek with her brothers and cousins. Because of her tomboy tendencies, her parents sent her to a Chicago finishing school to turn her into a lady. Now finished with her schooling, Violet’s expected to marry an older prominent Chicago businessman who asked Violet’s father for her hand in marriage.

  Tully and Violet share a past and wish they could share a future. Should they take on the adult roles their parents expect, or head off into the frontier on their own adventure?

  Tully and Violet

  I always picture my characters, either imaginary or from real images, when I write my books. For the Grooms with Honor series I’m using couples I found in my great-grandparents’ photo album, dating back to the early 1880s to early 1900s period. My great-grandparents were born in Sweden, moved to Kansas, and married in 1892.

  There are no names written on the back of these photographs, and I don’t recognize them as any of my relatives.

  These couples don’t look like our modern-day cover models (men with rippling muscles and women with flawless makeup), but they show real couples starting their new life together as husband and wife during the same period as the couples in my Grooms with Honor series.

  While you’re reading Tully’s Faith, you can pretend this portrait is of Tully Reagan and Violet Tucker. Hopefully, I’ve given them a good start in their married life.

  Prologue

  Spring 1892

  Chicago, Illinois

  “No! No! We are absolutely not married!” Violet Tucker railed at Tully Reagan’s classmate. She reached for the certificate Rollie had just finished signing as “Reverend Roland Christians.” Rollie held the paper above his tall head and beyond Violet’s reach.

  “You said the vows and signed the wedding certificate, Mrs. Tully Reagan,” Rollie continued, “and I’m now licensed to preach, marry, and bury.”

  Oh, Deuteronomy… Tully thought of one of his father’s alternative curse words, trying not to cuss now that he was an ordained minister too.

  “No! We were just playing a…a…game!” Violet said as she rounded on Tully.

  “Tully Reagan, this better be a joke because if not, I’m going to give you a black eye!” Violet hissed as she got in the boxing stance. So much for being a refined young woman. She hadn’t been out of finishing school for two days and was already reverting to her childhood tomboy ways. Of course, growing up with her brothers and triplet boy cousins on a ranch, she could ride, rope, and fight as well as they could. Tully didn’t think any amount of time at a finishing school took those talents away from Violet.

  Hence the reason Rusty and Faye Tucker sent their wild child to Chicago to become tamed and civilized.

  “Oh, how sweet. Their first marital fight,” Rollie added fuel to the fire.

  Tully Reagan was speechless, a rarity for him. Had Rollie really married them?

  It was supposed to be a joke!

  Their graduating class was celebrating the end of their schooling before everyone met, with friends and family, at a nearby hotel reception hall and then left for their careers.

  Because Tully’s family didn’t travel from Kansas for his ceremony, he asked an old school friend, Violet Tucker, to the event. Violet had spent two years in Chicago at the Miss Brian’s Finishing School, visited Tully on occasion, and also knew his friends.

  “Uh, Rollie—” Tully started to argue.

  “You two said the vows, kissed, and signed the certificate. It’s legal and the very first wedding I’ve performed. I’ll always remember it because I married two of my best friends,” Rollie insisted as he clutched his chest with his free hand. His other hand still held the offending paper high in the air.

  Violet crossed her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes. Even mad, Violet was beautiful in her emerald green gown, her luscious auburn hair pinned on top of her head and falling down her back in a cascade of curls.

  “Did you put Rollie up to this, Tully? I can’t remember the number of pranks you did in town when we were growing up in Clear Creek,” Violet asked as she stuck her index finger mere inches from Tully’s nose.

  Tully had an urge to bite her finger, just to see what she’d do next. That’s what he would have done, and probably did, back when they were youngsters.

  “Did the ceremony include a ring, Violet? A cigar band? A string?” Tully tainted her.

  “No, but—”

  “But it could help you steer clear of marrying Horace Westin,” Rudy Miller, another friend of Tully and Violet interrupted.

  That perked Violet’s attention. An older gentleman had been trying to court Violet while she was in school, even going as far as writing to Rusty, Violet’s father, for permission. Violet wasn’t the least bit interested in the man, his large home, or his bank account.

  “Yes, it would. If I can prove, I’m already married…”

  The grin on Violet’s face was devilish…and dangerous.

  Violet leaped into the air, snatched the paper from Rollie’s hand, and barreled down the hall into the ladies toilet room before anyone had time to react.

  Well, Chronicles. Was Violet going to tear up the paper, use it against Horace…or him?

  Chapter 1

  Tully stuck his finger in his clerical collar, trying to loosen its tightness around his neck. Right now, it felt like a noose instead of a sign of his profession.

  He glanced at Violet, staring out the train car window as they passed through the Kansas countryside. They’d traveled together, civil and more silent than usual, on their way home to Clear Creek, Kansas, the next stop on the train’s schedule.

  “Violet, I need to know what you’ve done with the certificate,” Tully pleaded to her one last time before their families met them at the depot.

  Violet turned to smile sweetly, but mockingly at him.

  “You couldn’t find it could you? I know you looked through my bags when you thought I was in the washroom,” Violet glared at him as she folded her arms around her waist.

  Drat…caught in the act. He was losing his touch at being sneaky. A trait he best remember he couldn’t do now that he was a preacher.

  “And I didn�
�t dare leave it in my trunks for fear my stowed baggage might get placed off at the wrong depot. Or…. you’d telegraph ahead to have Angus, your oldest brother—who’s the depot manager—check my trunks for dangerous explosives, or an important paper about his little brother.”

  Tully rolled his eyes, knowing Angus was too dedicated to his job to do something illegal as that. But it was something Tully would have done in his youth, without a second thought.

  Of course, that’s why he was sent out to the Straight Arrow Ranch during his early teenage years to work with his brother, Seth. Nothing like solitary ranch work with his quiet bachelor brother to keep a young boy out of mischief, at least according to his parents.

  It was only when he relented that he’d attend seminary school as they wished that the pressure had been released. But Tully’s most recent decision was going to make his father explode when Pastor Patrick Reagan found out what Tully did before he left Chicago. And it wasn’t the wedding ceremony that may or may not have him married to Violet either. Oh, his other secret was a much, much worse sin.

  Tully’s parents were wonderful people and parents, but it had been hard for Tully to live up to the reputations of his five brothers.

  Angus had been a traveling train marshal until he settled back home as the depot manager. His wife, Daisy, owned the pharmacy in town. Angus and Daisy had grown up together because Daisy, and her brother Nolan, had been raised by their grandparents, Dan and Edna Clancy, who owned the town café back when Tully was younger.

  Next, in line, Seth, rescued and married Lily, a Swedish horse trainer while at a livestock show in Chicago. They now worked together at the Straight Arrow Ranch training horses.

  His widowed father moved to Clear Creek to start the church in this community when Angus and Seth were quite young. Needing a wife, he ordered a mail-order bride from his old town in Ireland.

  His mother Kaitlyn arrived, towing two orphan brothers, Fergus and Mack, along.

  Fergus, and his wife Iris, who he’d met in Nebraska when he was photographing pioneer homesteads, had a successful photography studio in town.

  Mack was the town construction builder and his wife was the town’s physician, Dr. Pansy.

  And last in line for Tully to compete with was Cullen, his postmaster brother, and his wife, Rose, the town’s librarian. Cullen joined the Reagan family when his soiled dove mother died. He’d heard Cullen had a hard time accepting the family’s inclusion at first, but it was while Tully was a toddler and he didn’t remember those days.

  Oh, and all the brothers’ wives were giving Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan a constant supply of new grandchildren too.

  Yep, Tully was the little tag-a-long brother, the only son born to his parent’s union. They had high hopes for him, and he’d rebelled every chance he could growing up in town.

  “The certificate is safely hidden for protection,” Violet patted her chest, to hint to Tully it was under several layers of clothing.

  Tully sighed. When they were little kids playing together, he wouldn’t have thought twice about wrestling Violet to the ground to grab the paper from her shirtwaist. Of course, he could have lost and had the paper shoved down his throat just as easy too. For a girl, Violet didn’t always play fair, thanks to her brothers and cousins. She learned from the best to defend herself…and play dirty if need be.

  No, to get that piece of paper now he’d have to go under Violet’s jacket, dress, chemise, corset cover, corset…

  Oh, Romans. Now the collar was getting even tighter.

  “Tully, your face is redder than a ripe tomato. Don’t worry about anything. No one will know about our…a…union. It’s our secret.”

  “Except you showed it to Westin,” Tully pointed out.

  “Tully, I didn’t want to be chained to that old man until he died, which, with my luck would have been later than sooner,” Violet whispered. “It would feel like I was selling myself like my mama had to do.”

  Violet’s mother, Faye, had worked in a Kansas City brothel until escaping to her step-uncle, Isaac Connely’s Cross C Ranch in Kansas when Violet was an infant.

  “Let’s hope your folks don’t hear from Westin then, or our secret will be out.”

  “Trust me, he won’t be bothering us again. I might have embellished a few more reasons why he shouldn’t contact my parents or me again.”

  Good thing there are a lot of books in the Old and New Testaments because he’d be saying them all until he and Violet parted ways once they arrived home.

  “Wait…embellished what reasons? Since I bet I’m involved, you better let me in on your lies, so I don’t blow your cover.”

  Violet pursed her lips and twisted them to the right of her face, a sure sign she was going to ignore him.

  “Violet…I have plenty of stories to tell your folks about your antics at the boarding school.”

  “That’s blackmail!” Violet hissed, jutting out her jaw in defiance.

  “Then tell me. We’re almost to Clear Creek…”

  “Fine. Besides being married to you, I’m already with child.”

  Tully flopped his head back against the seat. Of all the things to lie about, Violet came up with a whopper.

  “You can’t be pregnant with us only kissing…once.”

  Tully’s head snapped back up in shock. “Have you already been with a man and you’re really—?”

  “No!” Violet interrupted him. “I just made that up,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “And it worked too. He ushered me directly to the door as if I had the plague.”

  “Next stop! Clear Creek!” the conductor called from the end of their car. “We’ll be here thirty minutes to load coal and water. Get out if you want to stretch your legs.”

  Tully took a deep breath and silently said a pleading prayer. If only he could stretch his legs, then get back on the train for his destination.

  How was he going to tell his parents about his assignment? No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t lie without getting struck by lightning. He was a preacher now.

  “Oh, Lord. We’re in trouble now,” Violet whispered as she turned her face away from the window.

  “What?” Tully leaned across Violet to look at the people standing on the depot platform waiting for the train to stop.

  Tully couldn’t even utter a word as he gaped at the reception of people waiting for them.

  Violet’s parents, his parents, and every one of his brothers was scanning the windows for him and Violet, and every single person had a frown on their face.

  “How’d they find out about our marriage? What’s your story now, Violet?” Tully demanded as he stood and pulled their bags from the overhead shelf. “And it better be that we were practicing marrying each other for the fun of it and we’re not married to each other!”

  “Don’t jump to conclusions, Tully. We don’t know why everyone looks…upset with us.”

  For her calm words, Violet was sure fussing with her hair and hat though. That and pinching her cheeks so she’d have a little color in her now pale complexion.

  “Violet, I want the absolute truth. Did you have Rollie marry us on purpose?”

  The combative tomboy stance said it all before she acknowledged it.

  “Yes, I did, because I don’t want to marry that old man in Chicago, nor do I want to stay home, stifled sewing indoors in my parent’s cabin, when I’d rather be outside riding the range.”

  “So, you married me, a preacher, because…”

  “Because I know your secret and I plan to go with you, husband.”

  Oh, Deuteronomy. If his collar didn’t choke him, then Violet’s father—or his father—would.

  Chapter 2

  Smile. Chin up. Shoulders back. Look polished because that’s what your parents sent you to Chicago for.

  “Hello, Mother. Hello Father. It’s so good to see you,” Violet did her best to look and sound regal as she met her parents with a flourish and tight hugs.

  “Good to see
you too, Violet. Welcome home.” Her father didn’t relax his stance or take his eyes off Tully as he gave Violet a quick hug.

  “Oh, Violet, it’s so good to have you home. I missed you so much,” Faye, Violet’s mother whispered, and then pulled her toward the Reagan family reunion. Tully’s family had taken turns hugging him, but then stood back as if waiting for something.

  Pastor Reagan cleared his throat. “Tully and Violet, I’m sorry to tell you that Dan Clancy died this morning.”

  “Oh no. Not sweet old Dan,” Violet cried in shock as she looked at Tully. He met her eyes with disbelief too.

  Now Violet could see it was sadness marring the family’s faces, not news that she and Tully were married. The old man had been a good friend of the Reagans and the whole community.

  Although his son, Nolan, ran the Clancy Café now, Dan and his wife, Edna, first opened the eating place when the railroad was being built through town back in ’68.

  “What happened?” Tully’s voice was rough with grief. “I know he was old, but…had he been sick?”

  Doctor Pansy, Tully’s sister-in-law, cleared her throat. “He was eighty-two, but he died from a fall off a chair. Two days ago, Dan climbed up on a chair to get something off a top shelf in the kitchen for Edna. Dan fell, breaking his hip and some ribs, which caused internal injuries. He died early this morning.”

  “Oh, poor Edna, she must be beside herself,” Tully shook his head, showing grief in his watering blue eyes.

  Violet wanted to wrap her arm around Tully’s waist to offer him comfort, but this wasn’t the time or place for it now.

  Pastor cleared his throat and turned to Tully. “Dan was still conscience last night, although he was in a lot of pain. Dan knew he wasn’t going to recover from his broken body and he knew you were on your way home.

  “Tully, Dan asked that you perform his funeral service and burial.”